Sunday, March 10, 2013

"I was tired from the drive - all the way up to Dalgleish, to get him, and
back to Toronto since noon - and worried about getting the rented car back
on time, and irritated by an article I had been reading in a magazine
in the waiting room. It was about another writer, a woman younger,
better-looking, probably more talented than I am. I had been in England
for two months and so I had not seen this article before, but it crossed
my mind while I was reading that my father would have. I could hear him
saying, Well, I didn't see anything about you in Maclean's. And if he
had read something about me he would say, Well, I didn't think too much
of that write-up. His tone would be humorous and indulgent but would
produce in me a familiar dreariness of spirit. The message I got from
him was simple: Fame must be striven for, then apologized for. Getting
or not getting it, you will be to blame." - from "The Moons of Jupiter"

If I were ever to start a tumblr, it'd be called "Alice Munro Just Killing It."

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Nice things said:

"Whitlock is an assured writer with a patient comic touch." – The National Post

“His characters propel the action, calling attention to narrative style only with metaphor and image – which are always arresting, always right ...an absorbing read.” – The Globe and Mail

"Whitlock's second novel slyly masks immense depth of character and emotion behind wry humor and a simple story about seemingly uncomplicated people . . . Whitlock shows that characters don't need to be flashy to be interesting, just written well." — Publishers Weekly (US)

"You might call Nathan Whitlock’s sense of humour the gallows kind: he readily locates the brutal and exposes its ridiculous underside. Not that he makes fun of his characters’ small, damaged lives—too much, anyway. Instead, he opens them up to reveal their working—and broken—parts.” — The Winnipeg Review

“Congratulations on Everything is a wonderfully complicated story about small but big ambitions, full of surprising, bittersweet twists. Expect some great laughs. Do yourself a favour: Get this book!” — Jowita Bydlowska, author of Drunk Mom: A Memoir

“Whitlock’s fast and funny novel explores lives that may look small from the outside but are vast and infinitely redeemable.” — Katrina Onstad, author of Everybody Has Everything

“Possibly the most entertaining book ever written about a decent guy committing self-sabotage. Reminds me of Russell Banks at his best.” — Cary Fagan, author of Bird’s Eye and My Life Among the Apes

“A funny, sad guided tour of the private hell that is owning a bar or restaurant. The best novel I’ve read all year.” — Corey Mintz, author of How to Host a Dinner Party